[dropcap]I [/dropcap] spent much of Sunday afternoon in Dripping Springs enjoying the refreshing taste of good English beer while taking in a grueling knockout-round World Cup match between Croatia and Denmark.

As I sat there, a group of eager football and non-football fans alike discussed the beautiful game, dissecting what was at stake for the two countries battling it out in Russia.

Nothing else in the world, at that moment, mattered more than the World Cup. And in the most unlikely of venues, ...